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There is a certain comfort in going to a familiar place, a place where people know you.
The wife and I went to the Reclamation Candies after quite a while today. We had stopped going there since the new Candies@McRonnel opened close to our house.
Well, it really felt good to be there (Reclamation), especially since we used to go there so often. It was our regular Saturday breakfast spot for a while. Plus I often used to stop there to pick up breakfast (one cappuccino and a brown bread sandwich) on the way to office. And what I used to like about the place was the warm, friendly buzz which it had. It struck one as a place run by good hearted people.
There was a big smile of recognition on the face of the young boy who took our order. And then when I went to place our coffee order, the boy at the coffee counter completed my order of ‘two regular cappuccinos…’ by saying ‘…one in a regular cup and one in take away’. After having taking our order so many times, he knew of the wife’s quirk of wanting her coffee in a take away cup with a straw. It felt good and I had visions of cowboy films where people would go their watering hole and order ‘the regular’.
The new Candies@McRonnel, is no doubt a hop, skip and jump away from our house and is much bigger than the Reclamation one, but it does not have the latter’s cosiness. In fact someone had likened the service of the new Candies as ‘that of a government office’ where you patiently wait, hoping to be served if you are lucky. And I agree, especially on weekends. Given the crowds they should replicate the McDonald’s order taking system.
One of the things I love about Candies is complimentary little pastries, cookies which they give with their coffee. It felt good to see them in the tray along with the coffee at the Reclamation Candies. In contrast, I always have to ask for them in the new Candies. They don’t give it automatically though they are supposed to. Which also means that lot of people who don’t know about this won’t even be getting. I have brought this up a few times but they just don’t learn!
It’s good to see Candies grow. But it will be sad that it loses its good natured charm in the process.
PS Candies has really changed with times though. Today, in my new health conscious avatar I had crab sushi and Caesar salad for lunch there. A far cry from its East Indian origins.

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